House of Scars
by china36
Summary: Adam finds the blog of a depressed teenager as a teen is found dead in her high school bathroom. Can the CSIs find out who the blog belongs to and save their life and solve the case at the same time? Warning! Mentions of self harming, suicide, and eating disorders. Do not read if it triggers you!
1. Chapter 1

House of Scars

Chapter 1: All Night Blogging

Adam Ross was working late again.

Adam sighed exasperatedly and let his head fall onto his propped up palms. He massaged his temples with his index fingers and continued to stare at the disappointing message blinking on the computer monitor before him.

"What's wrong, Adam?" Lindsay asked as she entered the lab. Adam cast a careless glance up at his colleague and sighed. Lindsay wore a look of pure concern for colleague. Lindsay was always so full of concern and love, smart and beautiful, and… married.

"I entered the photo you guys got from the pocket of the shooting victim into the DMV database, but there's no result. It's like the girl from the photo never even existed."

"It is getting pretty late. I'm sure that screen isn't helping. Go home, Adam, get some rest. I'm serious, get moving," Lindsay said and smiled tiredly at him. Adam smiled as he cast an irritated glance back at the monitor and hung his head.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. I'll finish up here and leave, I guess." He finally surrendered.

"Good. I'll see you in the morning. And I will be checking the security tapes to make sure you _did_ actually leave, Adam. I mean it, get some rest. You've been on edge all week about this case." Lindsay said spuriously and hugged the tablet she held closer to her chest.

"See you in the morning, Lindsay," Adam said and managed to bite back a smile. Lindsay nodded and backed out of the room, heels clicking on the hard floor as she walked. Adam smiled and released the smothered chuckle, turning back to the computer monitor.

_Lindsay's right, I should probably leave_. He finally stood and hurried down to the locker room, where Lindsay was exiting on his way in. She smiled a victorious smile and let him enter before her, patting his shoulder on her way out and walking directly into the open arms of Danny at the end of the hall. Adam twisted the knob on his lock and yanked it down and out of the hole, throwing it into the shelf on the top of the locker. He gathered up his things and slung his bag over his back. He was almost to the door when he realized he left his cell phone up by the computer. Sighing, Adam ran back to the elevator and punched the floor key to the lab. When the elevator door finally slid open reluctantly, he darted out and hustled to the computer, dodging the other lab rats and CSIs as he went. He yanked the glass door open and slammed his hand down on the small silver object, bringing it to his pants pocket and slipping it into the pocket. He turned to leave and had his hand resting on the door handle when the monitor suddenly lit up and a picture popped on the screen. Excitedly, he raced over to the monitor and flopped down on the chair, sending the wheeled chair a few inches over to the left. Adam scooted the chair over and got to work.

_Good thing I didn't clock out yet._ He thought and shook the mouse to illuminate the screen again. Adam exhaled dolefully at the sight of the notification, which wasn't what he wanted it to be. Instead of a result from missing persons, he wound up with an email. Adam once again let his head fall onto his knuckles and reluctantly opened the email, hoping it wasn't something from the FBI or anything worse than that. _That would be just my luck. No hits in DMV and on the FBI's radar. That'd piss Mac off for sure. _He breathed a sigh of relief as the email loaded and popped up on his screen, and to his appeasement, was not from any major government corporation. Rather, it was a link for a website. After running it for viruses and bugs, he clicked the link and waited for a new tab to pop up.

The new webpage didn't surprise him; it was the content that made him uneasy. When the page finally loaded, Adam felt his heart jump to his throat. It was a blog of some sort, probably belonging to a teenage girl from the looks of it. _I shouldn't be looking at this. But then again… it _is_ on the internet, so anything's fair game. It could also pertain to the case, and that'd piss Mac off too if I didn't look at it. _Adam let his curiosity get to him as he scrolled through the endless morbid posts. Each post was worse as they came; ranging from posts about self loathing to eating disorders. Adam knew it was wrong, but he couldn't help himself. Something about the gloomy attitude of the blog echoed in Adam, triggering horrifying fear and hopelessness in him. The blog had been set up several months ago, and since then, it seemed as if the blog never died. There was always something for each minute of every day, even when a normal person would be sleeping. Adam refreshed the page and scrolled to the top for the latest post, a video. Snatching his earbuds from his pants pocket, he jammed the tiny buds into his ears and pushed the jack into the headphone jack on the side of the computer and pressed play on the video.

The video faded from black to a barely illuminated room with only a few candles for light. A girl appeared on screen, looking almost like a ghost than an actual person. Her thin, pale face was partially covered with a shadow, so Adam couldn't see the left side of her face. The girl looked to be about sixteen or so, with almond shaped eyes and rich chestnut colored eyes. Her soft auburn hair tumbled down her shoulder and ended a few inches above her elbows. She had a petite nose and matching mouth, slender jawbone and high cheekbones.

"I'm scared," she whispered to the camera. She gazed into the lens with a strikingly dead expression, unreadable in every sense.

"I don't know what to do, everything's just, fallen to shit, like usual." She shrugged and looked down, inspecting her nails.

"But I think this is it. I'm sorry. I truly am. I've tried to make you all happy, but I just can't take this anymore. I'm done. So, congrats to all of you who wanted this. I'm finally out of the way. And I'm sorry to the few who didn't. I'll see you soon, I guess." The girl said quietly and clicked the webcam off. Adam jumped at the abruptness of the video and checked the time stamp. Only a minute had gone by since the video had been uploaded, still enough time to help the girl. Finding the ask box, Adam bypassed the account login and typed a frantic message.

_"Don't do this, you're worth more than you think. It goes away, it gets better. Trust me, I know."_ He typed into the ask box and hit send, leaving him with an ugly unsettled feeling instead of the hopeful, helpful one he expected. After hitting send, Adam went back to the homepage and continued to read the posts, feeling a dark power overcome him.

"Adam?" A sudden voice said, making him jump and accidentally click the close button.

"Hey, what's up?" Adam asked wearily and spun around to face Jo.

"Were you here all night?" Jo asked as Adam rubbed his eyes in exhaustion.

"Ah, no," Adam stumbled and Jo narrowed her eyes, raising her eyebrows. "Yes," he finally capitulated with a sigh.

"You need to go home! Get some sleep!" Jo exclaimed and waved her arm to the door. The same door that Lindsay happened to be passing by. Lindsay stopped and ripped the door open, stepping into the room.

"Morning, Lindsay," Adam said, waiting for his normally collected colleague to let him have it.

"Adam." She replied and turned to Jo.

"We have another vic. Flack's already there; he's just waiting for us."

"How old?" Adam interrupted, earning an irritated look from Lindsay.

"Fifteen, sixteen, why?"

"Can I come with?"

As Lindsay fumbled for words, Jo piped up. "It would do you some good to get you out of the lab for a little while. Grab your kit and meet me in five in the garage. Lindsay, we'll meet you there." Lindsay nodded and glared at Adam as she left the room, running down the hall to the elevator, Jo watching her go. Then she turned to Adam and smiled.

"What could you have done to piss her off so much?"


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Comfort

The entire ride to the crime scene, Adam was antsy. He simply couldn't help it, after his discovery. This didn't go unnoticed by the ex-FBI agent, Jo.

"Relax, Adam. It's just a crime scene. I guess we'll have to get you out to more crime scenes. Isn't that what you want to be working, anyway?"

"Uh, yeah," the younger man stuttered, breaking his reverie. He was honestly terrified to arrive at the crime scene, not knowing if the victim there would be the same girl from the blog earlier that morning.

"You know, my daddy used to say that a little bit of sun will help to take the edge off of nerves. Said that looking up at the sun, not directly, would help ya to see how bright everything is and how we all work together."

"Yeah," Adam mumbled softly as the pair pulled up next to a massive castle like structure nestled in a forest of trees.

"Here we go," Jo said softly and parked the car, snatched up her kit from the backseat and slammed the door on her heels, joining Flack at the edge of the curb. The detective glanced back at Adam and turned to Jo.

"He coming?" Flack asked and jerked his head back at the car, where Adam was still seated.

"Yeah, just nerves about the scene I think. It's not like he's out a lot," Jo remarked as Adam clambered out of the car with his kit tucked under his arm. He hurried to join the detectives and followed a set behind as Flack began to fill them in about the victim.

"Vic's name is Angelina Barlette. Sixteen years old. Her buddy over there told me that she found her sprawled on the floor in the bathroom in a pool of blood. According to her schedule, she was in the middle of chemistry with Professor Brown."

"What do we think of Brown?" Lindsay asked and joined the group.

"Students say he's a good teacher. They think he gives a hell of a lot of homework, but cares about the students individually. He helped to rebuild a student's home after it was destroyed by a fire last summer, gave some food to the more needy families of the school, your good Samaritan teacher."

"And the girl who found her?"

"Christina Tucchi. They were in the same class together. She said Brown was giving out tests and Barlette reacted badly, running out of the classroom. When she hadn't come back after five minutes, she went looking for her. Didn't expect to find her like this, I'll bet." Flack concluded as they entered the girls' bathroom on the third floor of the school. Right in the middle of the floor was the victim, laying in a pool of blood, just like Christina Tucchi had said.

"Wow," Adam heard Jo whisper softly before he lost touch with the world. Part of him was relieved, relieved that the victim wasn't the girl from the blog earlier that morning, however, half of him was gnawing at his inner self, wishing he could have done something for her. But he couldn't. He hardly even _knew_ this girl, let alone could he blame himself for her death. Adam mentally slapped himself and forced a hold on his emotions as he dropped his kit and snapped a few pictures.

"High velocity blood spatter, cast off stains on the ceiling," Lindsay said and took swabs of the blood on the wall.

"Killer hit her more than once," Adam filled in to Jo and Lindsay's surprise. He saw Jo smile ever so slightly as she inspected the body with a gloved hand.

"COD is probably blunt force trauma; I'm thinking from the indents in her skull, probably a pole or a softball bat."

"Could be a heat of the moment type of thing. A pole probably isn't a weapon of choice for a high school student," Lindsay remarked and glanced back down at the victim, obviously stirring up something inside of her. Outside the crime scene, a tormented scream wailed throughout the hallways, echoing in the bathroom.

"I have a lot of respect for Flack, having to do that," Adam murmured softly into the lens of the camera.

"Just part of the job, Adam," Lindsay reminded him gingerly, still looking down at the victim. Suddenly, the CSI snapped and slipped down from the ladder.

"You okay?" Jo asked and turned sharply.

"Fine just need a few be back soon," Lindsay rushed and bolted from the scene, running into Danny on the way out. She made a left and disappeared down the hallway until she reached a closet, anything to let her calm down.

"What just-" Danny began as Jo shook her head.

"She just took off. Didn't sound okay. Go find her," Jo said and turned back to the body. Danny rushed out of the bathroom and stopped a few students in the hallway, asking where the pretty dirty blonde went, and they pointed him in the right way.

"Linds?" Danny called and knocked lightly on a lit up closet. After a moment, he slowly opened the door and stepped inside. Lindsay sat on a couple of paint buckets, head in her arms, trying to hide from the world. He grabbed a stool and placed it down in front of her, seating himself on top of it so they were looking eye to eye.

"Hey, Danny," Lindsay whispered in a coarse voice, avoiding his concerned gaze. She bit her lip anxiously and ran her fingers through her hair.

"Lindsay, look at me." Danny said to her, though she shook her head. "Linds, please."

"I can't. I just… I can't. I look at the vic and see them, lying there on the floor with the waitress." Lindsay cut herself off before she could continue and choked back a sob.

"Montana." Lindsay looked sharply up at Danny, tears welling in her dark eyes. "I know it's hard, but you're safe now. There's nothing you could do about this. This girl, I know she's young and she reminds you of what happened, but that's over. I can't make you forget about what happened, but I want to try to help you. You know, that's one of the things I love about you. You're passionate and motivated, you want to help these families, you want to do what the crime lab back home couldn't do for you. You want the families to feel a tiny bit of comfort in knowing the asshole that did this is behind bars, that they're safe again." Danny sucked in a breath of air, knowing what would come next wouldn't be easy to say. "You know what it's like to be in that victim like state. And you want to change that hopeless feeling for victim's families."

At the last few words, Lindsay's tough walls collapsed around her, leaving her feeling vulnerable. More vulnerable than she liked. She let the tears fall and allowed her head to sink into Danny's toned chest, wrapping her arms around his lean body. Danny pulled her onto his lap and wrapped her into his comforting embrace, feeling his shoulder dampen with tears. He hated to see Lindsay like this. She was so tormented with the past that she couldn't move forward with the future. He wanted to help so badly, but he didn't know how.

Finally, Lindsay had nothing left to cry, leaving the couple locked in an embrace in each other's arms.

"I love you, Danny," she whispered into his ear, burrowing her head into her neck.

"I love you too Lindsay. I love both you and Lucy, more than life." Lindsay laughed and pulled away, gazing into his eyes and biting her lip. Danny leaned forward and let his lips touch Lindsay's.

"I know," she responded quietly as they stood. Squeezing her one last time, Danny let go of Lindsay and took her hand in his.

"I was just about to head to Brown's room, how about we go together?" Danny asked and led her out of the janitor's closet.

"Sure." Lindsay responded and filled Danny in on Professor Brown as they turned the corner, holding hands like the high school students that littered the hallway.


	3. Chapter 3

_Hey guys! Thanks so much for all of the support! I'm trying to update when I can, but I'm a little busy. Please enjoy the chapter!_

Chapter 3: Discovery

"Headmaster Figgs, I'm going to need to speak to all of the students Barlette came into contact on a daily basis." Flack said and flipped open his notebook, ready to take notes if necessary.

"Detective, you can just call me Harry. And that may be a little tough. Angelina was, she got herself out there. She was popular, even in the teacher's lounge." Figgs replied vaguely, obviously feeling awkward with the situation.

"What are you suggesting? That a sixteen year old student was sleeping with teachers?" Flack asked flabbergasted.

"Well, there were rumors," Figgs trailed off awkwardly and shuffling his feet as he looked down at the marble floor.

"Alright, well, I'm gonna need a list of names then, Harry." Flack said and stood with the man as Jo and Adam exited the bathroom together.

"I'm going to go back to the lab and start processing the evidence we collected. Need me to grab anything?" Adam asked and held the door for his superior.

"Go around and check if anyone else needs anything to go back to the lab. If you're going back, it'd be best to make sure everything gets back to the lab."

"Got it," Adam said and headed down the hallway.

"That was a bust," Danny mumbled irritated as he and Lindsay exited Brown's classroom.

"Brown wouldn't give you anything?" Flack asked and caught up with the duo.

"It wasn't that. He couldn't give us enough. He wasn't paying attention to her. One minute she was there, and the next, gone. Just disappeared."

"What kind of a teacher doesn't pay attention to his students?" Flack asked irritated as they turned the corner to the hallway leading to the grounds.

"Don't know." Lindsay responded with a tiny shrug. Talking with Brown had helped a little bit, but she still felt the lingering sadness resounding in the back of her mind. Taking notice, Danny squeezed her shoulder encouragingly as they walked, Flack ignoring the entire scene like he was supposed to. Normally, the by the book detective would be against relationships between coworkers, but he had done the same thing with Jess. Plus, it was Danny and Lindsay, anyway. They were married. Happily. With Lucy.

The trio walked out of the main building into center campus, Flack twisting around to walk towards the dorm the victim had lived in. Danny and Lindsay split to talk with the students the victim was friends with, each going to their respective dorms. Lindsay climbed the steep marble steps up to a gray stone house with a black sign with _Rose House_ painted on the sign in silver script. She knocked on the door and cried out "NYPD, please open up!" Only a few moments later, a student came scuttling to the door, first peeking through the curtain by the window to glance at the caller, then unlocked the door and allowed the visitor inside.

"Hi, my name is Lindsay, I'm with the NYPD crime lab. I'm going to need to speak with everyone Angelina spoke with on a daily basis." Lindsay informed the girl, recognizing the obvious look of distress, sorrow and fear. The girl nodded and waved her further into the house, after taking a glance at Lindsay's badge.

"My dad has one of those," the girl said as they walked further into the house to the living room.

"He works for the NYPD?" Lindsay asked, swinging her kit at her side.

"Nah, he works up in Seattle. He wanted to get a job in the NYPD, but they said that they had overstaffed and couldn't hire anymore detectives. So he just stayed in Seattle and sent me here," the girl explained, a hint of sadness peaking in her voice. They entered the living room and the girl offered her water before bolting up the stairs to find her housemates. A few moments later, the girl came back down with a group of girls trailing behind her.

"Hello, I'm Lindsay, I work for the New York Crime Lab. I'm going to need to speak with everyone who spoke, interacted, came into contact with , whatever it is, with Angelina today. Who would like to go first?" Lindsay asked, glancing around at the room of confused, scared and upset girls. It had been a rough day for them, as Lindsay knew all too well. _No. Not now. Remember what Danny said. _

One girl raised her hand and Lindsay smiled, relieved that the girls wouldn't just stand there and stare at her like a monkey. She waved the girl over to a chair and told the girls to return to their other activities, as long as they stayed in the house until the pair spoke.

"Could I have your full name, please?"

"Catherine Lightman," the girl said quietly.

"Alright, Catherine, let's start then. How long did you know Angelina?"

"Only since September. I mean, she's from California and I'm from Montana, so there really wasn't a huge chance for us to meet otherwise." Lindsay smiled to herself. Catherine's from Montana, just like her.

"Hope you don't mind me asking, but what part of Montana?"

"Billings," Catherine responded quickly.

"Oh yeah, I've been to Billings a handful of times. Pretty place. I was raised in Bozeman, so I just figured I'd ask." Lindsay smiled.

"Oh, cool," Catherine smiled and tucked her right leg under her body.

"Do you know if Angelina had any enemies, or anyone who didn't seem to like her?"

"Everyone called her Angie. For the most part, Angie was that stereotypical popular girl you'd see in all of the movies. Sort of like in _Mean Girls_. She was okay for the most part, I guess, but occasionally, she'd, um…" Catherine trailed off and looked down, realizing what she was saying. Lindsay nodded knowingly.

"She'd push you around." Lindsay filled in and Catherine nodded, still looking down and making a _you got it_ gesture with her fingers.

"But I wouldn't kill her. I couldn't do that. That's… that's not me." After a few questions, Adam found himself to an open door with the distinctive footprint of Lindsay's shoes imprinted in the layers of dust on the wooden floors.

"Hey, Linds, do you need me to take anything back to the lab?" Adam asked and wandered into the room where Lindsay sat with a student. Not just any student.

The realization hit Adam like a tidal wave so hard he could barely stand. There she sat, the same auburn haired, thin framed, coffee colored eyes girl from the blog earlier that morning. She sat hunched over, her wrists distinctly hidden from sight from her school blazer and probably a uniform long sleeve button down. Knowing her secret, Adam could see the sadness and emotion in her eyes that Lindsay probably misunderstood for grief because of the case.

"Adam? Adam!" Lindsay said loudly for the sixth time, finally breaking him out of the riptide of his wave.

"Uh, yeah, sorry Lindsay." Adam stuttered to apologize, still staring at the girl. She looked down at the ground awkwardly, feeling exposed. _She needed more layers._

"No, I don't need anything to go back to the lab yet. I'll see you back there, though." Lindsay said pointedly, trying to tell the younger and more inexperienced CSI to leave.

"Yeah, alright. Need anything, call me." Adam said and continued to look at the girl. She finally looked up and met eyes with Adam. Adam could've sworn she mouthed _help me_, but it could've also been from a serious lack of sleep.

"Adam!" Lindsay snapped and glared at him. "Go!"

"Right," Adam said and scuttled out, stopping to take one last glance at the girl before leaving.

_I found her. She's alive._


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Confrontation

Adam was working on one of the computers when Lindsay finally returned from the crime scene. She stalked down the hall, peering in each window to find the younger CSI. Lindsay Monroe Messer was _not_ happy, to say the least.

"What the hell, Adam?" She yelled when she found him hiding behind one of the monitors.

"H- Hi Lindsay."

"Oh, don't 'hi Lindsay' me! What was wrong with you? You kept staring at the poor girl the entire time! It took me twenty minutes before she'd even look at me again!"

"Lindsay, I'm so sorry, I just-"

"No sorry! That's not gonna cut it! She was happy to tell me all about the victim until you scared the living daylights out of her! Now, she could be withholding important information that we need to solve the case! What's gonna happen if she knows the killer, if they're going to do it again? That could prevent another murder! Do you hear me? Another student could end up _dead_, Adam!" By now, everyone in the crime lab had stopped to stare at the scene. Adam looked around awkwardly and looked down at the ground ashamed of himself. He hadn't thought about that. Adam knew that he sometimes made people uncomfortable, but he never _meant_ to do it at all. He had always been that way. Of course, it didn't help that his father reminded him of that every damn day of his life.

"I really don't think you know how much you could have just jeopardized this entire case. If you really wanted to help, you'd go to Mac and have him pull you off the case," Lindsay said, finally quieting down. When Adam finally looked up, he saw the pained expression plastered on his superior's face. He never knew Lindsay to be one to blow up like that. He always found her to be a soft spoken person, who always looked out for others. But looking at Lindsay now, he saw something different. He saw pure _weakness_, or some sort of it, which Lindsay clearly wasn't welcoming to. He saw the pure anger from the age of the victim and the stupidity of his actions, the sadness that always accompanied her with every case with a young female victim, and something else he just couldn't put his finger on precisely.

_The knowing look in her eyes was that of a victim. _

Lindsay shook her head at him and lowered her eyes as she walked out of the lab. Danny, appearing from across the hall, chased her down the hall after glaring viciously at Adam, as if to say _what have you done?_ And even Adam didn't know, he realized as he sunk into the chair. The shame of disappointing someone he respected immensely was killing him and at the same time, he was relieved that the girl was alive. He knew that Lindsay was right, but he couldn't bring himself to talk to Mac to taking him off the case. Finally making up his mind, he stood stiffly and left the lab, searching for the right detective's office.

"Hey Jo, could we talk?" Adam asked, sticking his head in the door as he knocked lightly on the doorframe. To his relief, Lindsay wasn't on her computer, in fact, it looked as if she had just left.

"Sure thing, Adam, sit down," Jo said and waved him inside the office. Adam smiled his thanks and sat down on one of the chairs adjacent to Jo's desk. She finished scribbling something on a hot pink sticky note and turned to him, chin propped up on her knuckles.

At the sight of him, Jo knew this wouldn't be a good talk. She had heard Lindsay from down the hall with the door closed through the glass. She also knew that Lindsay was on edge about the case. That much had been apparent since she arrived at the crime scene and watched the loving CSI walk out of the bathroom. She saw how distressed Adam was about this entire situation. It killed her to see the people she had grown to love so much in a position like this.

"What's up, Adam?"

"Jo, I really screwed up today. Really badly. And I have no idea how to fix it."

"Ah. Lindsay?"

"Yeah," Adam said quietly. "She said that the best thing I could do is remove myself from the case, but I just, I just can't. I want to help. I wanna right my wrong, ya know?"

"I understand. I think while Lindsay brings up a good point, I also believe that that's not the best way to fix this. Work the case, but don't get emotionally involved. Don't give me that look, Adam. I worked with the FBI, its profiling 101, you're already attached to this case emotionally and so is Lindsay. Why?" Adam gawked at her, mouth moving but no words would come out of his mouth. He was desperate for an excuse, anything. He knew that Jo wouldn't be too happy about the fact that he withheld possibly important information, but he couldn't have known it as important… right?

"I found something, it's a blog from one of the girls Lindsay was talking to-" Adam began but was abruptly cut off by Sheldon's entrance.

"Sid has an official COD. Plus, there's a lot of evidence to analyze, so I figured I'd come and get you first. He says it's incredibly important." Sheldon explained quickly, accompanied by the rush of adrenalin the CSIs occasionally felt when there was an abundance of evidence. More evidence sometimes means an easier case. But not always.

"Alright, Adam, we'll talk later," Jo said quickly and bolted out of her seat to join Sheldon in the ME's office. Adam bit his lip and sighed, finally returning to the safety of the monitors to analyze the security cameras that dotted the ceilings of the school.

"What was that about?" Sheldon asked as he and Jo rode the elevator down to the ME's office.

"Adam needed to talk about the case. Something's upsetting him."

"Ah. You and your FBI profiling," Sheldon laughed.

"After so long, it just becomes a part of you. Ever had that moment when you're talking to someone and you're mentally diagnosing them with something based off of their appearance?"

"Yes. Way too many girls lost in the process." Jo found herself laughing.

"It's just all a part of the job," she sighed as the elevator doors opened and the pair exited the shaft.

"So, Sid, what's the official COD?" Sheldon asked and joined the medical examiner by the girl's limp body.

"COD is blunt force trauma to the back of the skull, multiple blows. Also, liver temp puts the TOD at around eleven a.m."

"Which collaborates with what Christina Tucchi said," Jo told Sheldon and he nodded.

"What do you have for us?" Sheldon asked, gesturing to a tray full of evidence containers.

"The killer was probably in a hurry, they left you a serious amount of evidence." As Sid went on to explain what he found and where he found it, the case only became more complex.

"Thanks, Sid," Sheldon said as the pair walked for the elevators.

"Fits Lindsay's thory of a baseball bat as our murder weapon. I'll check out the bats in the school, test them for blood. Talk to you later," Jo said as they arrived back at the crime lab. She hurried to her office, grabbed her keys and returned to the elevator. She ran to her car and slammed on the gas pedal, screeching out of the parking garage. In a matter of minutes thanks to the siren, she arrived at the school and was already halfway to the gymnasium when Sheldon called.

"Danville," she answered immediately and slapped the phone to her cheek.

"Jo, it's Sheldon. I noticed an odd indentation in the victim's skull from the weapon. There was an imprint, star shaped. Try looking for something like that."

"Thanks Sheldon, need anything else?"

"No, good luck, though."

"Thanks." Jo replied as she stepped from the marble steps into a wooden floored gym lobby. Students buzzed about as if nothing had happened. But everyone knew differently.

_This case just got a lot harder, _Jo couldn't help but think. _Another sleepless night. _

_Hey guys! Thanks so much for all of the comments and reviews! Keep 'em coming! I'm not home next week, but I'm going to try to get the next chapter done for you guys before I leave on Sunday. Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Love ya!_


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Complications

"Jo, you called?" Mac asked as he entered the equipment closet. Jo turned slightly and smiled warmly up at him.

"I did," she confirmed and stood. "Sheldon said that the vic had some kind of indentation in her skull, like a star. Sid confirmed Lindsay's theory of the weapon, a baseball bat, but why would there be a star on the side of the bat?" Mac shrugged. Sure, he'd had some odd cases that perplexed him until he couldn't sleep, but a star on a bat?

"This is definitely a first," Mac agreed and examined the bats.

"It could always be a sticker," Jo finally said after going through the entire closet.

"Stickers are flat."

"Nope! Not all of them. I used to buy my kids puffy stickers for good behavior when they were younger. It could always be something like that, or a wooden stamp." Jo explained and placed her hands on her hip slightly frustrated.

"That's true," Mac agreed and followed her out of the closet into the gymnasium.

"Look at this place. Must cost a fortune," Jo whistled softly. Mac silently agreed. The gym was huge in itself; three full size basketball courts in front of them, while below were two full size pools and a hot tub. One pool for swim team and the other for water polo and other water sports. Bleachers surrounded the basketball courts, with two sets of stairs by each door leading up to the balcony seats of the gym. The ceiling was high and arched into a glass dome window with tons of natural sunlight. On each side of the gym were multiple doors, leading to work out rooms, locker rooms, bathrooms and the like.

"It probably does." Mac agreed and led his colleague out of the gym into the lobby, sparkling with glittering gold trophies and plaques lining the walls. Above the middle entrance to the gym was a flat screen television playing sports highlights and the school news program.

The pair walked out of the lobby, Mac holding the door for Jo, and slowly walked down the stairs together.

"See, that's the kind of relationship I want! One where it just works and the guy feels comfortable walking next to me in public!" A girl exclaimed from a bench outside of the gym as the pair walked down the steps. Neither had noticed how close they were, how their hands bushed lightly against the other's as they walked.

"Lydia! Shut up!" Another girl hissed as Mac and Jo turned to face the pair. "Sorry about her! Hope we didn't offend y'all." She called down to the detectives before turning to her friend. "We don't even know if they're dating!" She hissed at her, her voice lowered. Jo bit her lip and Mac cleared his throat.

"That's complete bull! Look, they just look so _right_ together! It's so meant to be! They're comfortable with each other, they don't mind being alone because it's _true love_!" The girl called Lydia exclaimed before her friend clamped her hand over the girl's mouth.

"Sorry again!" She yelled and dragged the girl into the gym lobby.

Jo found herself suddenly laughing. Mac turned and glanced at her, a small smile drawing across his lips. _She's so gorgeous when she laughs. _Jo playfully pushed Mac before the pair turned in sync and continuing down the steps to the cars. They arrived at the cars, which were conviently parked next to each other. Mac flung his kit into his car and stepped in front of Jo.

"I got it," Mac told her and opened the car door for her. She couldn't help but laugh again as she slid into the driver's seat before Mac closed the door. _He's so sweet. _

"Meet you back at the lab?" Jo asked as she turned the key to start the car.

"See you there," Mac said and hopped into his vehicle. As he was pulling out, another CSI vehicle pulled into the parking lot and took the place of the detective.

Adam stepped out of the car and shook himself out. He was more nervous than he expected, and he wasn't sure why. Then again, it's not every day that an investigation is jeopardized, especially one this important to such an important CSI as Lindsay Monroe Messer.

He retraced his earlier path and finally found the building, entitled _Rose House_. Heart hammering, he climbed the steps and reluctantly knocked on the door.

"New York crime lab! Open up!" Adam cried and stepped back to avoid being hit by the swinging door. Seconds later, a student arrived at the door and allowed him in, after taking a close look at him, of course. The student led him through the hall to the dining room, where most of the students were working either alone or in pairs.

"I'm going to need to speak with, uh-" he fumbled as he groped for the slip of paper with the girl's name on it, "Catherine Lightman." The group of students turned to face a girl sitting in the corner with a stack of books next to her knees.

"_C'est moi_," Catherine responded without looking up, clicking her pen vigorously. Adam nodded and moved closer to the girl.

"Is there somewhere we could talk privately?" Adam asked as he squat next to the girl.

"Yeah, sure. My room okay? No one else's up there now. Besides, it'll be a lot easier to move than to get all of them to move," Catherine explained in a low tone, gesturing to the crowd of students.

"That'll work." Adam replied and helped to grab the girl's books.

"Thanks," she mumbled and snatched up the rest of her books, leading the CSI out of the dining room to the stairs in the front of the house. They shuffled up the stairs and walked down the hallway to the left across the balcony to the room at the end of the hall.

"This is me. Sorry it's a mess, haven't gotten the chance to clean it," the girl explained as she took a seat on her bed and quickly shoved something silver into her pocket. _Probably a razor, _Adam realized sadly.

"I wanted to talk to you about what happened earlier. I am really sorry about how I acted earlier. You just, uh, look like someone I know who recently died."

"How?" Catherine asked without thinking. "Oh God, I'm really sorry-"

"No, it's okay. She, uh, committed suicide," Adam sniffed.

"Oh," she said quietly. "I'm really, really sorry."

"She's in a better place," Adam said quietly and looked down. "So, anyway, I wanted to talk to you about your relationship with the victim. I understand that I shook you up pretty badly after my arrival."

"I'm just not a huge fan of being watched. Doesn't feel right. But Angie. She loved the spotlight. She'd do anything to have everyone looking at her. Even, um, well, you know," she trailed off awkwardly.

"Have sex?" Adam filled in for her.

"Ding ding ding. She'd chase after _anyone_ who breathed. There was a fight between her and another girl, Stacy Kelly, cause Angie slept with Stacy's boyfriend and Stacy walked in on it. They were best friends before that."

"Did Angie actually have a boyfriend?"

"I really don't know. She'd get together with a guy during first period and by the end of fifth period, it'd be over. She could've just gotten one before she died and the school didn't hear about it yet, or she was actually single when she died. Probably not the way she was expecting to go out." Catherine laughed at her own joke.

"Okay, thanks. Anything else you need or want to talk about? It doesn't need to pertain to the case."

"Uh, no," she shook her head awkwardly. Adam sighed internally. He was really hoping that maybe she'd talk about herself a little more.

"Well thank you. And listen, here's my information. Call me if you need anything at all, okay?" Adam asked and handed her a card.

"Thanks," she responded and they both stood. She walked him out and waved goodbye, Adam hoping that she'd actually use the number. _Please stay safe. _

As he walked across the campus to his car, Adam smiled to himself as he pulled out his phone.

"Hey Mac? Listen, I think we have our first suspect."

_Yay! Another chapter up! I'm actually working on another fic called Chasing the Sun. It should be up shortly. Please check it out when I get it up! Thanks guys!_


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